CONCLUSION.

Few questions of principle or policy will be presented for your consideration, towards the decision of which precedent or experience will not furnish you an accurate guide, or at least effective aid. We need only, to the discharge of our trusts in our respective departments, grave, responsible and numerous as they are, an earnest spirit, a constant and vigilant regard for the public interests, and an unceasing watchfulness in maintaining the integrity, honor and dignity of the State. With these we can not fail to meet the just expectations of the people.

But beyond the limits of our jurisdiction, there are questions and principles of far wider significance than those which engage our official consideration; which appeal to us as citizens of a common country; which press upon the people in the form of unequal responsibilities; and in which we all have a deep and abiding interest. I allude to the national issues which await solution. I do not intend to refer to them in a partisan spirit, or to discuss them at length. These issues have presented new and difficult questions of government, of finance and taxation, resulting from the rebellion, and we are without guides in previous history, to lead us to their determination. Nearly four years have elapsed since the close of the rebellion, and the Federal authorities have had unrestricted power to re-establish civil government in the States rescued from sedition, and restore to their people peace and the motives to industry; and yet how little has been done towards these ends!

Had they been attained, the South would now be enabled to bear its share of the taxation entailed by the war, and the North relieved of its unequal responsibility, while the whole country, resuming its former commercial relations, would be so far advanced in prosperity and power that in a few years our financial troubles would cease to be the subject of anxiety. Instead of securing these results, Congress has directed its efforts to the suppression of representation, and the subversion of republican government in States, prolonging the subserviency of the civil to the military power, and postponing the return of peace. The people, at the late election, have chosen by their suffrage the Chief Magistrate, to whose guidance they are willing to commit the destinies of the country, and the settlement of the issues which disturb it. These questions do not belong to party, but to the whole country; and it

should be our earnest prayer that he who has been thus chosen shall prove equal to the great trust with which he is charged.

Party organization must be kept up as the means of preserving great principles and maintaining the integrity of the government and the liberties of the people. The majority of the citizens of this State who opposed the policy of the present dominant party in the country and the election of its candidate for the presidency, adhere firmly to their views of public policy, the adoption of which they believe will afford the earliest and best settlement of the great questions which now distract us. They will, however, lay aside all merely partisan considerations, and join in a common spirit of magnanimity and patriotism in sustaining any administration of the Federal government in every earnest effort which it shall make to restore its credit, to maintain the public faith, to re-establish the authority of the Constitution, to unite all our people in amity and concord, to give peace and prosperity to all sections of the Union, and to assert, among nations, the honor of our flag and the rights of those who claim its protection.

There is a spirit of party intolerance growing up which not only arrays men in bitter political hostility, but which creates personal hatred through mere differences of opinion. It follows the elected representatives of the people with detraction and misrepresentation, and impairs their usefulness in the discharge of important trusts involving the public welfare. I consider this a dangerous evil. Public officers, both Federal and State, should be judged by and held responsible for their acts, and not prejudged by clamor and party intolerance; nor should they be intimidated by either. My duty is defined by the oath I have taken to execute the laws of this State and to support its Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I shall endeavor to do it faithfully; and while I shall uphold and maintain the political doctrines and principles to which I am devoted, and assert and defend the rights of the State and of the people whose representative I am, I will, as the Executive of this State, support the Executive of the United States in every exercise of rightful authority, and in every patriotic effort for the welfare of our common country. The people will approve. War no longer claims offerings of lives and treasures; peace now demands the sacrifice of predjudices and passion.

JOHN T. HOFFMAN

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE, CHAMBER, }

TO THE LEGISLATURE:

ALBANY, April 7,

I respectfully call your attention to the necessity of some legislation, during the present session, with a view to providing, as soon and as far as possible, a remedy for the evils which arise from the over-crowded condition of our State Prisons.

The number of convicts in the State, it is said, has more than doubled since the year 1850. Since the close of the war there has been a great increase of prison commitments, and to day all our prisons are more than full.

The population of the State is rapidly increasing, and no argument is required to show that the necessities of the State will demand, and that very soon, increased prison accommodations. These accommodations can only be furnished by an enlargement of the prisons already built, or by the erection of a new one.

Experience has shown clearly, that the crowding of large numbers of convicts in any one prison, is prejudicial, alike to the discipline of the institution, and the pecuniary interests of the State.

In my judgment, the existing prisons should not be enlarged; but speedy provision should be made for the proper selection of a prison site, and the erection of a new prison thereon. I need not enter into an argument in support of this recommendation. I respectfully refer you to the report of the special committee appointed by the Legislature during the last session, and to the suggestions of the Prison Association.

In my annual message, I called attention to the evils and errors which exist in our prison system. I trust that in any new prison which shall be erected, important changes may be inaugurated; I would suggest the propriety of making it a State penitentiary rather than a State prison, with a view to its being a place for reformation as well as for punishment; and one to which the least hardened of condemned men might be consigned.

The demand for greater prison accomodation, and better prison management, is growing and must be met. The fact that the prisons which we have now, are great pecuniary burdens upon the State, will not excuse us from providing new ones. With increased pop

ulation we must expect an increased number of criminals, and prisons must be made for them.

Without further enlarging upon these suggestions, I strongly recommend now the appointment of a commission, either by the Legislature or by the executive, to select a site for a new prison, subject to the approval of the Legislature; which commission shall also report a plan for the construction of the building, with estimates of the cost, and shall make such suggestions as to the character and management of the prison, when built, as they may deem wise.

As the action of the commission will be subject to future legislative approval, and as the expenses incident to it will be nominal, I think there can be no objection to the passing of a law to carry out the suggestions here made.

JOHN T. HOFFMAN.

STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER.

TO THE LEGISLATURE.

ALBANY, APRIL 13, 1869.

}

I respectfully call the attention of the Legislature to the necessity and propriety of making the proper appropriation for the support of the Soldiers' Home, located in Albany.

It has been in existence for several years, and affords a retreat for those sick and disabled soldiers of the recent war who belonged to the State of New York, and are now unable to provide for themselves. The number of inmates varies at different seasons. There are now more than three hundred, all more or less disabled by wounds or suffering from disease contracted when in the army. More than one hundred are now treated as hospital cases, some of them being too feeble to be removed.

The National Asylum for "disabled volunteer soldiers," has now established three permanent Homes one in Wisconsin, one in Ohio and one in Maine, and notice has been given that this Asylum is ready to receive, at any of those places, every disabled soldier now at the Albany Home, who has any claims because of "total disability." I do not understand the notice to include those who are only temporarily prostrated by wounds or disease. I learn, however, that the fact that the notice has been given, has created some doubt and hesitation in the minds of some of the members of the Legislature about continuing the appropriation for the support of our own Home.

I feel it my duty to state the facts, and to suggest that it would be well for as many of the members of the Legislature as may find it convenient, to visit and inspect the Albany Home, with the view of determining what answer shall be made to the following questions which I respectfully submit for consideration:

First Shall the home at Albany be suddenly closed, and the disabled New York soldiers be turned away and compelled to seek a retreat in Maine, Ohio or Wisconsin?

Second If it is to be closed, what shall be done with those who are too feeble to be removed to those distant points, and what appropriation shall be made to pay for the transportation of those who are willing and able to go?

The responsibility of answering these questions rests with the Legislature; but I respectfully recommend, that the necessary appropriation for the support of the Home for the current year may be made, so that it shall not be abruptly broken up. The necessity for its continuance will gradually diminish.

Every year will show a diminution in the number of disabled men who will ask our aid, but it should be given while it is needed.

New York owes it to the soldiers she sent to the war, that they should not be compelled, in their distress, to seek a refuge beyond her own borders.

JOHN T. HOFFMAN.